Political Quotes

“when you walk into the capitol of Colorado, there in that great rotunda is a mural on the wall by Thomas Hornsby Ferril, and it starts out with a very simple phrase that reads: ``Here is a land where life is written in water.'' So during this budget I will be offering amendment No. 443 to make sure we are protecting that lifeblood of Colorado--our water--and to make sure our State property rights, State law, is able to prevail against the intrusions by the Federal Government. Over the past several decades, we have watched as the Federal Government has attempted to assert bypass flows or Federal reserve water rights that impede our ability to carry out private water rights and to, indeed, protect Colorado private water rights. Whether it is the imposition of a bypass flow on a ditch that is going through Forest Service ground or perhaps the new Forest Service ski area water rule or the groundwater rule they are now discussing, these are, once again, challenges to the supremacy of State water law. This government has a long history of yielding to State water law-- making sure that State water law is supreme when it comes to how we carry out and manage our State water rights. Over the years, bipartisan coalitions in Colorado, Wyoming, and beyond have emerged to make sure we are protecting our water rights, to make sure the Federal Government isn't coming in outside of our system of water law. Colorado is extremely complex.…”